FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

June 17, 2023

MedGlobal Calls to Treat Refugees as Humans in Light of the Sinking of a Refugee Boat 

The humanitarian NGO says more should have been done to prevent this tragedy.

CHICAGO– After a fishing boat capsized and sank off Greece’s southern coast, at least 79 people have died, and hundreds are missing. Rescuers saved 104 passengers, but those on the boat claimed that around 750 people were on board the vessel and, therefore, likely drowned, as no one on board had life jackets. 

Greek authorities have been criticized for not offering enough help, as the boat was spotted early Tuesday afternoon, but they claim that no request for help was made. The boat sank within 15 minutes (47 miles) from the island of Pylos, a spot close to one of the deepest areas of the Mediterranean Sea. This incident is one of the worst migrant-related disasters this year, just five days from World Refugee Day. Humanitarian NGO MedGlobal expressed its deepest condolences.

“This is one of the worst refugee-related tragedies we’ve seen in years. Let us treat refugees as humans and provide them with the means to survive when they are fleeing atrocities and bombs in their homelands,” said Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president of MedGlobal. “This tragedy is a reminder of the ongoing Syrian crisis, even though some Arab countries are trying to ignore the root causes of it.” At least half of the drowned refugees are from war-torn Syria. 

MedGlobal has been providing life-sustaining healthcare and mental health services to Syrian, Palestinian, Ukrainian, Yemeni, Lebanese, Rohingya, Bangladeshi, Ethiopian, Sudanese, and Central and Latin American refugees, internally displaced persons, and migrants.

MedGlobal is an international medical NGO that provides emergency response and sustainable health programs and supports resilient health systems in partnership with communities in disaster regions and low-income countries.

Please contact Courtney Weigal at [email protected] or +1 708-692-0101 to arrange an interview with the MedGlobal team.

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